After coming away from preliminary heats with the seventh-best time in the Class 3A field at last weekend’s state championship meet, Parkland sophomore Mustapha Salau knew he was guaranteed a place in the finals and a state medal.

He wanted even more. While the championship final didn’t go exactly as he planned, Salau learned a lot at his first state meet and will be better equipped to return next season and run even faster.

After posting a 49.43 in the preliminary, Salau ran a 53.35 for eighth place in the final.

“It’s definitely a really big accomplishment to make it to state finals,” he said. “It wasn’t my best race (in finals). That was my slowest time ever. It’s definitely a blessing to be here. I’m thankful to be here and thankful to my coaches who pushed me along the way.”

Salau, a district champ, was hoping to break his school record. He knew that time would keep him right up there with the top runners in the state.

“Coming in, I really wanted to beat the school record at Parkland,” he said. “It’s a 48.7. Some of the other kids are running 48.5s. I really wanted to be able to keep up with them. After that first turn it wasn’t feeling too good then they started to get away and I started to fall back.”

He said the turns on the track at Shippensburg’s Seth Grove Stadium were tighter than he was used to and it altered how he approached the corners.

“I think that’s definitely something that comes with experience and that’s just something I’m not really sure I have,” he said. “Hopefully in my upcoming seasons I’ll be able to adjust to that on the fly.”

Getting to states and making finals has motivated him to return next year.

“This is something I’m really going to look forward to,” he said. “It’s definitely an experience I want to have for the rest of my years of high school. I know I could have done better so that’s going to be a memory I’m going to have throughout the upcoming season to push myself to do the best I can.”

Salau was one of a large group of Parkland athletes to earn the trip to Shippensburg for this year’s state meet, which was held Friday, May 24 and Saturday, May 25.

Parkland senior Madison Zaun, a veteran of state cross country races, made her first appearance at the state track and field championships and posted a career-best time of 11:03.22 in the 3200-meter run for 14th place.

“This is actually my first time here,” Zaun said. “It’s definitely something to get used to. It would have been nice if I would have had some experience, but I thought I ran mostly a smart race.”

Running in a faster 3200 field than she had ever been part of before, Zaun knew she wanted to keep up with the pack early in the race, but didn’t want to start too fast and sacrifice her late-race kick.

“The first lap was out fast,” she said. “It’s hard to come back from that. I PRed by I guess eight seconds.

“I wanted to stay out behind and let everyone get out there. But also I wanted to get out there and be in the race because I had to make up some ground.”

While Zaun, who will run track and cross country at Lehigh University, was happy about the trip to states and her new PR, she wanted a bit more out of the race. She was less than four seconds off the school record of 10:59.6.

“I wanted to break the record,” she said. “That would be the cherry on top of my whole season. I told my mom so many times I am just happy to be here. That was my goal originally, just to be here.

“It’s been a great season. I’m going to miss high school running.”

Four other Parkland athletes earned top-20 finishes in individual events at states.

Junior Jada Mangahas, a school record holder, cleared 10 feet, 6 inches in pole vault to finish in 16th place at Shippensburg.

Senior Shelby Staib took 16th place in javelin at 115-7.

Adam Klinger leaped 43-5 in triple jump to finish 20th overall. And Riley Williamson, who also run at Lehigh next year, was 20th in the 1600-meter run with a time of 4:27.84.

The Trojans sent two boys relay teams to states.

The 4x800 relay team of Benjamin Esquieres, Nathan Reimer, Ethan Warren and Noah Colon finished 26th with a time of 8:37.39. The boys 4x400 team of Nathan Reimer, Sebastian Suriel, Ese Duke and Noah Colon.